Advogato Trust Certifications

One of the more interesting features of Advogato is its mechanism
for certifying free software developers. The current system recognizes
the combination of talent and dedication in three levels: Apprentice,
Journeyer, and Master. All these levels are determined by peer
certification. These certificates are entered in individual records
from the People page. This document explains
what the levels mean, and guidelines for deciding what level of
certification to use.

Please feel free to certify all of the free software developers
you know who have accounts here, especially those without many
certificates to begin with. The trust metric used to evaluate the
certificates is most robust when the certificate graph is dense.

All of these levels are based on free software only, as defined by
the Debian Free
Software Guidelines. In general, you should base the level on work
done in the last year.

To certify someone, make sure you're logged in, then go to the
person's page and use the pulldown form.

Master

A Master is the principal author or hard-working co-author of an
"important" free software project, i.e. one that many people depend
on, or one that stands out in quality. A Master has command of the
tools and is an excellent programmer. Generally, a Master works
equivalent to full time (or more) on free software. Ideally, a Master
writes clearly about the work and its broader context, and serves as a
mentor to others in the free software community.

Journeyer

Journeyers are the people who make free software happen. A
journeyer contributes significantly to an important free software
project, or is the author of a useful or technically innovative
project. A Journeyer is generally a competent programmer, but
significant contributions of documentation, artwork, or other non-code
goodies counts too. Ideally, a Journeyer works with others in the free
software community to polish and refine the library of free
software. While not necessarily the equivalent of full time, a
Journeyer spends a significant amount of time on free software.

Apprentice

An apprentice is someone who has contributed in some way to a free
software project, but is still striving to acquire the skills and
standing in the community to make more significant
contributions. Ideally, the Apprentice is in touch with either an
individual mentor or a community that helps to gain these skills. An
Apprentice spends a significant amount of time learning the craft of
software development, whether by hands-on practice, academic study, or
careful observation.

Observer

A user with no trust certification is referred to as an observer. This
is the default trust level of a new user and the level to which you would
certify someone to remove an existing trust certification. An observer does
not have posting priviledges and other powers associated with trust users.
They have read-only access to Advogato, with the exceptions of editing their
own user profile and posting blog entries.

Evaluation of the certs

The certificates are evaluated using an attack-resistant
trust metric. Keep in mind that
all certs have "at least" semantics, so an Apprentice ranking is always
better than none (observer).

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